Inbox Overview
Inspired by David Allen's productivity methodology Getting Things Done, Inbox is your repository to write down all your tensions so you can quickly get them out of your head and decide later what to do with them.
From Inbox, you can:
Capture any tension that you need to address. It can be anything from an opportunity for improvement to an endemic challenge that needs attention within the organization.
Process what you've captured into clear and concrete action steps:
If you know how to process your tensions, you can quickly turn them into actions, projects, OKRs or governance proposals.
If you want to discuss a tension with your team, you can simply bring the tension to the next meeting and turn it into an agenda item.
With Inbox, you can quickly organize and take quicker, better decisions to get more work done!
⭐ Quick tip: Review your tensions, frequently look over and revise your lists to make sure everything gets processed in time.
What is a tension?
📌 Note: Depending on the wording defined in your organization for Inbox, a tension can also be called "Driver", "Spark" or "Note".
The word Tension is drive for innovation and change! You might think of it as a bad thing, but it’s not! It is actually the fuel you need for change, improvement and innovation. A tension can be described as the difference between the current situation and what could be. Is something not working optimally?
Tension. Are you seeing an opportunity that your company is not grasping? Tension.
Work that needs to be done, but no-one responsible for it? Tension.
A tension is an opportunity, a feeling that something could be different such as improving a process, sharing an idea, implementing a project…
Frustrations, challenges and ideas are flying around in your organization everyday. How we feel is an incredible signal for positive change. When an opportunity emerges, organization members can easily share their tensions on Holaspirit and engage the right people to make great decisions together. They can either discuss these tensions during circle meetings or transform them to take action.
When you sense tensions within your role, circle or organization, it is your responsibility to process them by taking ownership, raising the concern with the appropriate people and offering solutions. Use the Inbox app to log your tensions, edit them and turn them into Projects, Actions and OKRs or bring them to your circle meetings.
Processing tensions
On Holaspirit, decisions to process tensions don't need to be validated by the organization’s leaders nor by consensus of the community. A tension is private by default until you decide to process it. Tensions can be held in your inbox indefinitely until you process them.
There are a number of steps people can take to address a tension and implement positive change:
React: When noticing a problem or opportunity, you can take initiative to create a tension, or let someone else know in order for them to create a tension on the matter.
Discuss: You may seek input to sound out different perspectives on the subject of your tension before taking action.
Take action: To resolve the tension, you can turn it into an Action, a Project or an OKR or bring it to your circle’s meeting.
In other words, tension can be resolved either asynchronously or during a meeting.
If you know what would be the next steps, turn your action into an Action, a Project or an OKR or if you prefer to seek your team's advice, add your tension to the next meeting agenda.
How to process your tension?
Turn your tension into a project, action, OKR or governance proposal in order to act on it. (Read more)
Bring your tension to your next circle meeting directly from Inbox. (Read more)
All members can import their own tensions to a meeting when they feel ready to discuss it, either when the meeting is scheduled or when it's already open.
⭐ Tip: Write down all your tensions. Stay aware and record your ideas and opportunities in Inbox: this app allows you to keep track of your tensions, review them, keep them to yourself or process them if you feel the need to.
Working with Inbox is an innovative and efficient way of organizing your thoughts. It changes the structure of your organization, the way in which you make decisions and the distribution of authority. It provides you with the opportunity and the tools to really use every tension as fuel.